Pulsing device for electrically operated perforators



H. F. KOGLER ET AL PULSING DEVICE FOR ELECTRICALLY Dec. 27, 1949 OPERATED PERFORATORS Filed June 2'7, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R E K am Y m w w M m W w QW M MA AJ H K I 8 llllllllllllhlllll"! Dec. 27, 1949 H. F. KOGLER ET AL. 2,492,584

PULSING DEVICE FOR ELECTRICALLY OPERATED PERFORATORS Filed June 27, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HAROLD F. KOGLER JAMES E. WACK 75m WM ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 27, 1949 PULSING DEVICE FOR ELECTRICALLY OPERATED PERFORATORS Harold F. Kogler and James E. Wack, Chicago, 111., assignors to Teletype Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application June 27, 1947, Serial No. 757,500

6 Claims.

This invention relates to perforating apparatus and particularly to telegraph tape perforators wherein power for the perforating operation is furnished by the momentary energization of a punch hammer solenoid.

The invention finds special application in a translating set such as is disclosed in the patent of Gubisch, No. 2,354,115, wherein a five unit code selector mechanism senses a perforated tape and in response to the sensing operations, automatically operates the individual key levers or the space bar of a Wheatstone perforator to thereby transpose five unit code combinations into cable Morse code.

Some difliculty has been encountered in operating Wheatstone perforators automatically since the keyboard thereof is designed primarily for manual operation. In the Wheatstone perforator, substantially uniform operation of the universal contact which controls the punch hammer solenoid is obtainable in manual operation of the keyboard due to the fact that compensation for the length of the key levers and the space bar is made as is described in detail in the patent of Kleinschmidt, No. 1,085,985. The length of a particular key lever, of course, depends upon the row it occupies in the keyboard. The space bar conventionally occupies the outermost or lowest row of the keyboard. Compensation for these varying lengths is accomplished by varying the point at which the key lever and the space bar are connected with their associated notched selector bars. Since a substantially uniform operation of the notch-ed selector bars is thus obtained and since selection of any of said bars causes closure of the universal contact, the pulsing period of the solenoid is maintained at a uniform level in manual keyboard operation.

However, in the translating set shown in the Gubisch patent, all the key levers and the space bar, regardless of their length, are operated at substantially the same distance from their fulcrums by a series of vertically extending links arranged in a single row. Thus, in automatic operation of the Wheatstone perforator, the mechanical balance provided for manual operation was upset and a variable period of closure time for the universal contact resulted. As a consequence, it was found that the selection of the space bar and the longer key levers for operation tended to prolong the closure of the universal contact and therefore prolonged the pulsing of the punch hammer solenoid. This caused an objectionable overheating of the punch hammer solenoid, rendering it sluggish and inefficient in operation upon the continuance of such a condition. Moreover, the top row of key levers, which are the shortest key levers, when individually selected for operation tended to cut short the operating time of the universal contact, resulting in a short pulse for the punch hammer solenoid which sometimes was insufficient to complete the punching operation. This latter situation was aggravated by the fact that the top row of key levers usually operates a heavy load of punches to perforate long code combinations and this tended to slow up the movement of the punch head which is under the control of a linkage operable by the punch hammer solenoid.

As already indicated above, the rate of travel of the punch head varies with the number of punches selected for perforating a particular code combination. In manual operation of the Wheatstone perforator, an operators keyboard technique cures such a deficiency since she applies more or less pressure by means of her fingers in accordance with the length of the code combinatlon, holding the universal contact closed for a greater length of time on the longer code combinations.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a tape perforator having means for insuring the reliable and efiicient operation of a punch hammer solenoid associated therewith.

Another object of the invention is to provide a control circuit for a punch hammer solenoid which enables the pulsing of the punch hammer solenoid to vary with the load of punches and which insures a completion of the punching operation with no prolongation of the pulsing time beyond the point actually needed to complete an particular perforating operation.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of means which prevents repeat operations of the keyboard.

Other objects, features, and advantages will appear from the more detailed description which will hereinafter appear.

By the present invention, when the universal contacts of the Wheatstone perforator are operated, a circuit is closed to both the punch hammer solenoid and a control relay. The original operating circuit is then broken by the opening of a cam operated contact pair but meanwhile a new circuit has been prepared which extends through .a cam operated safety contact pair and a contact and causes it to de-energize with a time lag which insures the complete travel of the punch head, before its contact tongue moves away and opens the circuit to the punch hammer solenoid. Thus, control of the operation is now taken away from the universal contacts after the punch solenoid is initially energized so that a variable operation of the universal contacts will not interfere with the pulsing time of the punch solenoid which now varies with the rate of travel of the punch head. This results in a highly efficient performance of the punch solenoid, maintaining it at minimum operating temperature with a minimum change in solenoid characteristics since the punch solenoid is now energized only for a period which insures a complete perforating operation.

Since overpulsing of the punch solenoid might also cause repeat operations of the keyboard the invention possesses the additional advantage of overcoming such an objectionable condition.

The invention may be more fully understood by reference. to the detailed description which follows when read with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a right end elevational view, partly in section showing parts of the translating set involved in the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan View of the Wheatstone perforator;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section illustrating particularly the punch block and punch head;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail. view taken from the bottom showing the shunting contact pair involved in the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a detailed left end elevation View which particularly discloses the cam operated contact pairs and the control relay utilized in the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a schematic circuit illustration of the present invention;

Fig. 7 illustrates a section of tape with the letter E combination perforated therein, and

Fig. 8 illustrates a section of tape with the numeral 0 combination perforated therein.

A detailed description of the invention will now be undertaken but it will be understood that reference should be had to the afore-mentioned Gubisch and Kleinschmidt patents for a more complete description of the apparatus with which the invention is concerned. In Fig. l, numeral |0 represents the base of a Wheatstone perforator which is indicated generally by the numeral II. A portion of a five unit code selector mechanism is indicated generally by the numeral l2. As described in the Gubisch patent the code combination presented by a transverse row of perforations perforated in a five unit tape governs the positions of a set of five unit code bars l3. A sixth code bar I4 is provided for shift purposes to increase the number of possible selections in a manner well known in the art. overlying a portion of the code bars |3 are a series of code levers IE (only one of which is shown in the drawing) which are pivoted at I! and urged in a downward direction by individual springs 8. Also mounted on pivot IT, at each end thereof, are code lever bail arms l9 (only one of which is shown in the drawing) which support at their free ends the code lever bail 2|. Code lever bail arms I9 are each pivotally connected at 22 to an upwardly extending arm 23 of a cam follower 24 whose movement is controlled by an eccentric cam 25 carried by operating shaft 26. Shaft 26 is released for rotary movement and a cycle of operations by means of a single revolution clutch (not shown).

During each cycle of operations the code bars |3 are set according to the operation of the five unit sensing mechanism (not shown) and the provision of an alignment of notches in the code bars I3 enables a selected code lever IE to be drawn downwardly by its individual spring |8 as bail 2| moves from beneath the free ends of all the code levers I 5 due to the operation of cam follower 24 by shaft 26. Actually all the code levers It move down slightly but only the selected one drops into an alignment of notches in the code. bars. The free end of each code lever I6 is bifurcated at 27 and receives thereat a pin 28 carried at the lower end of a vertically extending link 29. The upper end of each link 29 carries a roller 3| which overlies a key lever 32. It is thus evident that When a particular code lever I6 is selected, it will, by means of link 29, draw downwardly an associated key lever 32.

All of the key levers 32 are fulcrumed near their inner ends on a fixed transverse bar 33. Arranged longitudinally of and beneath the key levers 32, are notched selector bars 34 fulcrumed near their inner ends on a transverse bar 36. The key levers 32 of the top row of the keyboard are connected by small straps 31A to their associated notched selector bars 34. Similarly, the key levers of the other rows of the keyboard, B, C, D, and space bar 38 which occupies position E are connected by straps 31B, 31C, 31D and 31E at progressively further distances from the fulcrum 33. In this manner the lengths of the key levers 32 and space bar 38 are compensated for so that in manual operation a substantially uniform operation of the notched selector bars 34 is obtained. Individual springs 35 attached to the rear of levers 34 normally maintain the key levers 32 in their upward position.

The notched selector bars 34 selectively engage T bars 39 each of which is associated with a pivoted connecting bar 4| (Fig. 3) as is more fully disclosed in the Kleinschmidt patent referred to above. Some of the connecting bars 4| are pivotally connected at 42 to links 43 which are connected at the upper ends to a front row of punch interponents 44F. Others of the connecting bars 4| terminate in a downwardly extending portion which are pivotally connected at 42 to links 43 which are connected at their upper ends to a rear row of punch interponents 44R. Punch interponents 44F and 44R extend upwardly to the rear of punch block 50. Interponents 44F control the lower punch pins 43L, while interponents 44R control the upper punch pins 46U. Centally located with respect to the upper punch pins U and the lower punch pins 46L are the feed hole pins 46C which are universally operated each time punch head 41 moves forward as will be later explained. If a T bar is selected it will rock the rear end of its associated connecting bar 4| upwardly and if a front row interponent MP is connected therewith, for example, the upper end of the interponent will be placed in front of its associated pin 43L so that on operation of the punch head 41 this particular pin will be projected through the tape which is positioned in the guideway 48. The rear row of interponents 44R will be operated in a similar manner.

In addition to selecting certain T bars 39, all notched selector bars 34 in their downward movement operate the universal T lever 49 which is at the extreme left of T bars 39, as is shown in Fig.1; Operation of the universal T lever -59 causes lever 5| (Fig. 1), which is similar to connecting levers 4|, to move upwardly. The rear end of lever 5| has connected therewith, by means of insulating piece 52, a universal contact operating bar 53 which operates against universal contact'54 which is screw threaded and has a knurled head 56 for adjustment purposes.

Upon each operation of the universal contact 5 punch hammer solenoid 51 is energized and its plunger 58 is moved downwardly. The plunger 58 has pivotally connected thereto at its upper end a laterally extending arm 59 of a bellcrank Bl whose vertical arm terminates in a bifurcation 62 which straddles an extension pin 63 carried by the main operating lever t ll-Fig. 2). Main operating lever 64 is pivoted at 6% and is normally urged in a counterclockwise direction by means of a large spring 5?. When punch hammer solenoid 5'! is energized bell crank ti pivots counterclockwise as viewed in 1 and the main operating lever e4 moves clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2. As the main operating lever ts moves forward an adjustable screw 65 carried thereby engages the rear of the punch head M and moves it forward in guideways 59 against the action of a compression spring H. The forward movement of punch head t! causes selected ones of the pins lSU and MEL to be driven through the tape as previously explained. Two of the feed pins 46C are driven through the tape for the shortest code combination and the total number of feed pins etc operated may increase with the length of the perforated code combination. On the return stroke of main operating lever 54, the pins 4BU and 66L and 456 are withdrawn from the tape and a new section of blank tape is fed into punching position by means not shown.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 6, the operation of the circuit involved in the present invention will be described. Upon each closure of the universal contact ti l, an obvious circuit is made for punch hammer solenoid 51' and control relay '!2 which extends through cam controlled contact pair 13 and over conductor i i. In each cycle of operations, shaft 2b is released for rotary movement by a single revolution clutch not shown. After a partial revolution of shaft 26, cam 1E carried thereby will enable a follower I1 associated with contact pair 13 to move to a low part of the cam and open the original operating circuit. However, a new circuit has now been established which extends from battery, through cam safety contact pair it, as its follower 8%! now rides the high part of cam it, over conductor 19, through contact tongue 8!, through the winding of control relay T2 and resistances t2 and 83 to ground. It is obvious that control of the circuit is now taken away from the universal contact after it has once operated and transferred to control relay 12. Resistance it and condenser are provided for spark prevention purposes.

Beneath shelf 86 (Figs. 3 and l) which supports the main operating lever 54, punch head 51, punch block 50 and other parts of the apparatus, there is adjustably mounted by screw and slot connec tions 81, a plate 88 which supports a shunting contact pair 89. Carried by one of the blades of the contact pair 89 is an insulating projection 9! which extends upwardly into the path of movement of a portion 955 of punch head M. As the punch head 41 moves forwardly, as explained, just before it reaches the end of its stroke it closes contact pair 89 (Fig. 6) shunting out the winding of control relay 12 through resistance 83. This enables control relay I2 to de-energize with a time lag which delays the opening of its contact tongue 8|, thereby delaying the breaking of the circuit to punch hammer solenoid 51 until the punching operation has been completed. The opening of safety contact pair 18 in each operation is a precautionary measure to insure that there will be no accidental closure of the circuit to the control relay l2 and punch hammer solenoid 51 when the perforator should be inactive. Since the rate of travel of the punch head 41 varies with the punch load to be operated by the punch head at a particular time, the shunting contact pair 8'! after being adjusted. to the proper position will be operated at an instant which insures the complete travel of the punch head with no unnecessary overpulsing or clipping of pulses supplied to the punch solenoid.

As an example of the two extremes of punch loads for perforating characters, an inspection of Figs. 7 and 8 will show that the letter E which is composed of a single dot has only one upper perforation and one lower perforation, besides two feed hole perforations. The numeral 0 (zero), on the other hand, is made up of five dashes and receives five upper and five lower perforations, plus ten feed hole perforations. It is thus seen that there may be considerable variation in the load carried by the punch head 41.

As stated earlier in the description the invention has the additional advantage of preventing repeat operations of the keyboard which might occur if pulses applied to the punch solenoid were unnecessarily prolonged.

Various changes and modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A Wheatstone perforator including a plurality of selectable punch. elements, a punch solenoid, a punch head operable by said solenoid for operating selected punch elements to perforate strip material, a control relay, a universal contact means for initially operating said punch solenoid and said control relay, means for thereafter transferring control of said punch solenoid solely to said control relay, a shunting circuit for said control relay, and contact means operable by said punch head at a predetermined point in the operating stroke of said punch head to operate said shunting circuit, said shunting circuit including resistance means for delaying the de-energization of said control relay to thereby delay the de-energization of said punch solenoid to insure a full operatin stroke of said punch head in a predetermined period of time.

2. A perforator including a selector mechanism, a plurality of punch elements selectable by said selector mechanism, a punch solenoid, a punch head operable by said solenoid for actuating selected punch elements to perforate strip material, a control relay, a universal contact means operable in each perforating operation for initially energizing said punch solenoid and said control relay, means for thereafter transferring control of the energization of said punch solenoid to said control relay and maintaining said control relay energized, a shunting circuit for said control relay and contact means operable by said punch head at a predetermined point in the operating stroke thereof for operating said shunting circulit, said shunting circuit including resistance means for delaying the de-energization of said control relay to thereby delay the deenergization of said punch solenoid to insure the completion of the operating stroke of said punch head in a predetermined interval of time.

3. A perforator including a selector mechanism, a plurality of selectable elements selectable by said selector mechanism, a punch solenoid, punching means operable by said solenoid for actuating selected punch elements to perforate strip material, a control relay, a switch operable in each perforating operation for initially energizing said punch solenoid and said control relay, means for thereafter transferring control of the energization of said punch solenoid to said control relay and maintaining said control relay energized, a shunting circuit for said control relay, and an adjustable switch means operable by said punching means at a predetermined point in the operating stroke thereof to effect the operation of said shunting circuit, said shunting circuit including resistance means for delaying the de-energization of said control relay to thereby delay the cle-energization of said punch solenoid to insure the completion of the operating stroke of said punching means in a predetermined interval of time.

4. A Wheatstone iperforator including a selector mechanism, a plurality of punch elements selectable by said selector mechanism, a punch solenoid, punching means operable by said solenoid for actuating selected punch elements to perforate strip material, a control relay, an initial operating circuit including a universal contact and a cam operated contact for initially energizing said punch solenoid and said control relay, means for opening said cam operated contact to break said initial operating circuit, a second cam operated contact closable before said first cam operated contact opens for providing a new energizing circuit for said control relay and for thereby transferring control of the energization of said punch solenoid to said control relay, a shunting circuit for said control relay and an adjustable contact operable by said punching means at a predetermined point in the operating stroke thereof to operate said shunting circuit, said shunting circuit including resistance means for delaying the de-energization of said punch solenoid to insure the completion of the operating stroke of said punching means in a predetermine interval of time.

5. A perforator including a selector mechanism, av plurality of punch elements selectable by said selector mechanism, a punch solenoid, punching means operable by said solenoid for actuating varying numbers of said selected punch elements to perforate strip material, means for initially energizing said solenoid, control means, a circuit including a cam operated contact for transferring the control of the energization of said solenoid to provide control means after said solenoid has been initially energized, and means associated with said control means for prolonging the energization of said solenoid only for an interval gaged'bythe completion of the operating stroke of said punching means.

6. In a perforator, including a selector mechanism, a series of key levers for operating said selector mechanism, a plurality of punch elements selectable by said selector mechanism, a punch solenoid, a punch head operable by said solenoid for actuating varying numbers of said selected punch elements to perforate strip material according to the key lever selected for operation, means operable by any key lever for initially energizing said solenoid, control means, a circuit including a cam operated contact for transferring the control of the energization of said solenoid to said control means after said solenoid has been initially energized, and means associated with said control means for prolonging the energization of. said solenoid only for an interval gaged by thedesired time of completion of the operating stroke of said punch head.

HAROLD F. KOGLER. JAMES E. WACK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,316,795 Lake Apr. 20, 1943 2,343,882 Carr Mar. 14, 1944 Certificate of Deflection Patent No. 2,492,584 December 27, 1949 HAROLD F. KOG'LER ET AL.

It is hereby certified that errors appear in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows:

Column 6, line 73, for cireulit read circuit; column 8, line 13, for the word provide read said;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 6th day of June, A. D. 1950.

[sun] THOMAS F. MURPHY,

Assistant aommissz'oner of Patents.

Certificate of Correction Patent No. 2,492,584 December 27, 1949 HAROLD F. KOG-LER ET AL.

It is hereby certified that errors appear in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows:

Column 6, line 73, for circulit read circuit; column 8, line 13, for the word provide read said;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 6th day of June, A. D. 1950.

THOMAS F. MURPHY,

Assistant Commissioner of Patents. 

